Couldn't Be Happier
by hopelessXromantic
Summary: Everything changed when Fred died. She ignored everyone that reminded her of him, mainly George. Three years later she realizes she can no longer ignore. Not only that but she couldn't be happier.


-1A/N- This is basically a follow up to my other one-shot Saintlike. It is not necessary to read the other, but it surely would help. It simply is the story of Hope Murphy after the loss of her fiancé, Fred Weasley. Enjoy, and please leave a review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or the Weasleys. I own Hope Murphy. That is all.

Couldn't Be Happier

Hope took a deep breathe as she entered the flat. She was slightly shocked by the mess that she saw, but George hadn't really been cleaning these days. In fact he had been a great deal of nothing these days. Hope was certain that he just wanted to forget all thinking, she understood.

"George, I brought you some soup," Hope called out.

"Not hungry," he called from the next room over.

Hope sighed taking off her jacket. She knew that he had barely eaten in the last two weeks. Each time she saw him he was getting frailer, and continued to loss weight. Grabbing the soup she walked into his room.

"You have to eat," Hope told him.

George looked over at her quickly. He looked as if he had aged five years in just the last two weeks since the battle. "No thanks."

"Fred would not want you starve yourself!" Hope screamed. She would not sit by and watch him destroy himself. Mourning she understood, but not this behavior.

"You have no idea what he would want!" George shouted at right her.

"I do. I know that he loved you, and wouldn't want you to be like this. Damn it, George, you're going to kill yourself if you carry on like this," Hope snapped. She placed the soup down on his desk and walked out of the room. Grabbing her coat she stormed out of the flat. Clearly, George had no intention of listening to her and she intended to leave him alone.

For the next three years she would decline the requests of Mrs. Weasley to come to the Burrow. She would always write her back a kind message. The last thing that she wanted was to come across George Weasley.

In fact she tried her hardest to distant her self from the Weasley family. It seemed that was near impossible. People from her days in Hogwarts would ask about Fred without even thinking. It simply slipped out of their mouths. The conversation had happened so many times.

She changed her mind one simple September morning. An owl came delivering a simple letter to her from Ginny Weasley. It was asking her to come to the Burrow for her and Harry's engagement party. As much as Hope wanted to rip up the paper and refuse to go she decided against it. She surprised even herself by sending back a simple _Of Course._

Hope was not sure why she had decided to venture to the Burrow. Part of it was that she dearly missed the family. Another part of her wanted to go to try to make amends with George.

She barely managed to get herself to the Burrow in one piece. She had been so nervous that she was expecting to splinch herself on the way. Thankfully, she managed to get their in one piece. Her heart swelled as she looked at the familiar house.

"Hope!"

A mass of red hair came running towards her at full speed. She let out a shout as she was almost tackled in a hug from Ginny.

"I've missed you!"

"It's just been hard to come back here," Hope told her sadly.

Ginny didn't say anything. She just looped her arm within Hope's and started to walk her towards the house. Ginny went on about everything that Hope had missed over the last three years, such as Bill and Fleur's child. Hope could not wait to see the new child.

Hope entered the Burrow and was shocked by the noise that was coming from within. She was expecting noise, but nothing compared to this. There were children running around, and adults laughing all around. It appeared as if the entire immediate Weasley family, still a large number, managed to make it to the celebration.

"Hope!"

She smiled as various people all screamed out her name giving her hugs. At that moment she could barely understand why she had kept away from them this long. Being with this family felt right.

Quickly she remembered what had kept her away when she noticed George. He was not smiling, nor running over to give her a hug. Instead he was keeping towards the corner and looking down into his drink quite intently. Hope felt her disposition change looking at him, but turned towards Ginny instead.

"Look their's little Victoire and over there is Teddy," Ginny told Hope pointing to two children.

"Teddy?" Hope asked looking at the child with magnificent blue hair.

"Lupin and Tonks' kid. Harry really watches over him as much as possible," Ginny explained. Hope nodded looking at the kid.

"Hope, can you give me a hand in the kitchen?" Mrs. Weasley asked taking a step towards the kitchen.

"Mum! Can't I please catch up with her before you drag her off to do house work," Ginny begged/

Hermione laughed from across the room. "I'll help."

Mrs. Weasley frowned slightly at Hope. Hope knew at that moment that she did not need her in the kitchen but she needed to talk to her. Whatever that was about she doubted that she felt like discussing it at the moment.

Ginny took Hope over to the couch were the both sat. Hope looked around and noticed the way that everyone seemed to be interacting, even George. The only time he appeared to tense up when was he noticed that Hope was sitting in the room.

"Have you talked to George?" Ginny asked quietly.

Hope shook her head. "Not since Fred died."

"You should," Ginny told her before she raced off to Harry's side. Hope looked at him and noticed that for the first time she could remember he looked truly happy. She preferred this look so much more than the one she remembered of her final year at Hogwarts. He seemed so on edge all the time.

At that moment Hope looked over at George and decided that she had to talk to him. This dinner would only continue to grow more awkward if they ignored each other. Taking a deep breathe she started walking over to him. "George, can we talk?"

In her mind it felt as if he everyone stopped talking and were looking at the two of them. At first she though that he was going to just ignore her. As she went to walk away he finally spoke up. "Sure, let's go in the garden."

Hope smiled at him and followed him into the overgrown Weasley garden. Occasionally she would notice a gnome running across the grass, but did not bother to notice too much. They walked in an awkward silence until finally Hope decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry for trying to force you to eat soup," Hope spat out.

George looked at her and gave a small laugh. Seeing a smile on his face Hope immediately felt calmer about the situation. "Don't be. I was starving myself."

"I just didn't want to lose you, too," Hope told him softly.

George placed his hands into his pockets turning towards her slightly. For the first time today she noticed the hole where an ear should have been. She wanted to run her hand across it, but resisted the temptation since that would not help the awkwardness of the moment.

"At that moment I really wanted to die. I felt that life would be impossible as just me," George confessed.

Hope was thrown off by his honesty at first. "I'm glad that you realized it wasn't impossible. I'm sorry that it took me three years to tell you any of this."

"Not as if I tried any harder to talk to you, but I've always been a bit more passive," George said.

Hope smiled. She found the fact that he was more passive quite endearing. "Guess we're both at fault. George, I've missed you so much."

George smiled at her before turning away. He ran his hand through his hair before speaking to her. "I've missed you too, Hope. Please tell me that it won't be three years before we talk again?"

"I promise," Hope grinned. She looked up into the familiar features of George Weasley. He looked older than the last time she remembered, but that made sense. Even though he was identical to Fred she saw him clearly as his own person. Small features stuck out to her and she knew that he George. At that moment she paid no attention to those features but stared into his blue eyes. They were remarkable.

"Dinner you two!" Mrs. Weasley screamed from inside the house.

Hope felt her face flush as she realized that she had been staring at George. She felt extremely uncomfortable as she walked back into the Burrow with him. Once again she felt that the room had fallen silent to look towards her and George. She simply gave everyone a smile as she sat down with George quickly sitting across from her.

Hope began eating the food that Mrs. Weasley had made for this occasion. She stayed quiet listening to all of the conversation occurring around. In some aspects she felt like a complete outcast amongst this family she had ignored for years.

Another thing that kept bothering Hope was that she continued to look at George. She realized that it was natural since he was sitting across from her, but it appeared to be happening more than necessary. More than anything she hoped that no one else was noticing this, but her.

"Hope, how has life been?" Mrs. Weasley inquired.

She snapped her eyesight away from George and towards his mother. "It's been quiet lately."

"Happens when you avoid this family," Ron told her quickly. Hope admitted that it was fairly true. Being with this family for an hour was more noise than she had for three years. It was a welcome change she admitted.

The mood changed the moment that young Teddy spoke up. "Uncle Harry, who is she?"

Harry sat up a little bit straighter as he thought of a way to answer. "That's Aunt Hope she was…"

"A good friend of Uncle Fred's," Hope finished for Harry. Everyone gave her a sad smile, and it caused her to shift uncomfortably in her seat. The sad smile wasn't found on George's face though; instead he was just looking at her in a curious manner. That pushed her over the limit.

"Excuse me," Hope said before leaving the table. She walked back out to the garden and sat down looking up at the stars. Her mother had always told her to look at the stars if she bothered.

Hope was not sure at that moment that it was Fred's memory that was troubling. No, she thought that it was his living double that was causing her this uncomfortable feeling. She did not want to think into it any more. She rather just look at the stars.

"You cannot fool me," Ginny said sitting down next to Hope. "It's not Fred that's bothering you."

Hope felt her jaw drop as she looked over at the red-head. She clearly had more intuition than most of the family that was sitting at that table. At this moment she wished that Ginny was on the same level as Ron because this conversation was one that she felt no need to have.

"What if it is?"

"Lies. Who is it? Clearly it's one of my brothers, I hope it's not Ron or Bill you're after, "Ginny joked.

Hope immediately felt her body tense. Certainly there was no way that she wanted George. No, she just kept looking at him for no reason. For goodness sake she barely even knew anything about him anymore! "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Ginny smirked. She tied her long red hair into a bun before continuing to badger Hope. "Let's see. Not Charlie, you haven't spoken once tonight. Defiantly not Percy, he's only been taking to Penelope. That leaves George."

Hope looked over at Ginny quickly. "That's crazy. Just because we talked in the garden does not mean that I fancy him."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Well, you did look at him quite a few times at dinner."

"Because he was sitting across from me!" Hope shouted. She was telling Ginny the same things that she had been telling herself only minutes ago. Just the idea that she might like George scared her beyond anything on the entire world.

"Really?"

"No," Hope confessed," but what if it is only because he is Fred's twin. What if that's the only reason I feel this way?"

Ginny frowned. "I don't think so. To be honest I think Fred would rather George with you than some random git that you might find."

Hope managed a smile. She had no idea how this had happened. In one day she went form wanting to avoid a person at all costs to wanting to be as close to him as possible.

"Perhaps you should talk to him?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," Hope muttered.

Ginny smiled as she went racing back into the house. Hope sat in the silence thinking about what she could even attempt to say to George. Most likely he would just laugh at her, or something along those lines. Instead she once again turned her attention to the stars until she heard footsteps approaching her softly.

"Ginny said you needed to talk to me?" George asked. He sounded extremely curious to why he had been called outside.

"Yeah, I just need to figure out the words to say," Hope told him.

He laughed as he sat down next to her. His smile made Hope want to grab his hand but she fought the urge. She was afraid that it might scare him off if she was suddenly this forward.

"I hope you don't think I'm crazy, or anything," Hope began.

"What would ever give me that impression?" George joked.

Hope closed her eyes taking a deep breathe. "You have lovely eyes."

George raised one of his eyebrows. "Thanks?"

Hope let out a small laugh. That was not the best way that she wanted to start out this discussion. "It's not just your eyes, you're lovely, too. I hope that didn't sound as bad as I think it did."

"Not bad, just what are you getting at?" George asked.

Hope opened her mouth but she could not think of the words. Instead she pulled him closer to her by his shirt and placed her lips against his. She felt his body tense, but than relax. Wrapping his hands around her neck she felt him deepen the kiss. Letting out a soft moan she ran her hand through his hair. At that moment it felt as if electricity was running through her body, a feeling she had not felt in a long time. George suddenly softened the kiss and eventually pulled away.

"Hope, I don't want to rush into something you're not ready for," George quickly said.

"This isn't rushing; it's been three years, George. I want this," Hope told him softly. She leaned in for another kiss and felt the butterflies return to her stomach when he returned it. Before the kiss could progress into anything worthwhile Hope pulled apart this time. "We should head back to the party."

"Oh, right," George said standing up. He held his hand out to Hope to help her off the ground. Once she was up she didn't let go of his hand but held it even tighter. Hand in hand they walked back into the Burrow. Everyone turned to look at the two holding hands and there was uproar of noise.

Hope grinned as she leaned onto George. Finally after three years she couldn't be happier.


End file.
